The Floowhave announced it has been appointed by Innovate UK on behalf of The Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to advise on its new UPLIFT project, which aims to use telematics to strengthen the UK’s position in the motor insurance market, to better understand risk and how telematics can make insurance fairer, personalised and more transparent for motorists.

The Government’s UPLIFT project will be led by an interdisciplinary team of world experts with leadership credentials in the fields of data science, driving behaviour psychology and insurance risk. The project will seek to enhance technologies in improved risk understanding and importantly to ensure that new technologies also ensure gains in:
bias analysis, identification and reduction;
increasing transparency, inclusion, privacy and fairness for consumers;
setting new industry standards in ethical data handling.

Aldo Monteforte, CEO of The Floow commented: “Through the UPLIFT project, we aim to define a blueprint for improving insurance products making mobility smarter and safer for all. For some motorists, the advent of big data can be scary, but in truth the new era of safer driving and personalised risk that telematics enables is empowering for the consumer – and will result in lower and fairer insurance premiums, fewer accidents and safer roads.”

UPLIFT spearheads development of new capabilities to maximise motor insurance fairness. This focus aligns to the UK Industrial Strategy by not only embracing new technologies but ensuring in the process that fairness is enhanced for all.

The biggest societal and economic impacts from the UPLIFT project will be in reducing incidents on UK roads - this will be supported by new approaches for not only understanding but also communicating risk to drivers. This will make road users more self-aware of their driving habits enabling system wide reductions in risk on UK roads.

Driving behaviour patterns have changed in recent years with the advent of new in-car technologies, vehicle performance and the pervasive use of mobile phones. A recent research study by the Floow revealed that a staggering 72% of UK drivers admitted that they had used their mobile phone behind the wheel. Improved driver awareness of the risks of distraction, erratic motoring, tiredness and the dangers of driving at unsociable hours will deliver a significant improvement on UK road safety, at a time when the average crash currently costs the UK economy £83,893.

The UPLIFT project will also enhance the fair handling of fraudulent claims, bringing huge economic benefits. For example, in 2016 more than 215,000 fraudulent insurance claims were made in the UK for a value of £1.3 Billion, causing insurers to invest at least £200 Million per year to tackle fraud prevention (ABI).

Dr Sam Chapman, Chief Innovation Officer of The Floow adds: “Our smart mobility technology has already proven that greater driver awareness results in safer driving. For example, our current driver training programme reduces the likelihood of road traffic accidents by 13% in the worst performing drivers. UPLIFT will allows us to enhance feedback for every driver to support people to become better drivers on every journey they make on any road in the UK. We are delighted to have been chosen to lead this new Government-backed initiative and believe technology and data science has a fundamental role to play to make insurance fairer, more inclusive and importantly to make our roads safer. We are entering a new era of safe mobility powered by technology enabled smart driving.”